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Hot Space

Queen - Hot Space Audio CD

A fair review of the Queen "Hot Space" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Queen reviews here, or go back to the Queen tabs.

Band: Queen
Title: Hot Space
Rating:

Release Date: 1991-03-05
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Staying Power 2: Dancer 3: Back Chat 4: Body Language 5: Action This Day 6: Put Out the Fire 7: Life Is Real (Song for Lennon) 8: Calling All Girls 9: Palabras de Amor (The Words of Love) 10: Cool Cat 11: Under Pressure - David Bowie, Queen 12: Body Language [Remix][*]

The Mad Masquerade
An album guaranteed to cut Queen fan's right down the middle.
Aaah, Hot Space- Queen's disco album. Some view it as a bold attempt at something different that succeeds in parts; others view it as a downright failure- an embarrassment of sorts. Personally, I stand somewhere in the middle. Queen must be applauded for attempting something different, for not churning out the same product time after time. Unfortunately, it is not the production that falls flat here, it is the songs. Well, some of them. The hugely successful collaboration with David Bowie, Under Pressure was tacked on the end and is undoubtedly a brilliant track that suits the feel of the album perfectly. And there are other great tracks here too. The first three tracks for example are well-crafted songs that set the album off on a strong foot. The best of the three being John Deacon's sole contribution to the album, Back Chat (other than his collaboration with Freddie on the less- successful Cool Cat). Brian and John apparently had a disagreement in the studio about whether the song should have a guitar solo or not. Brian won out, and delivers one of his best- a searing, delightful addition to the song.
Freddie throws a spanner in the work somewhat with his experimental, Body Language. The disco influence is really brought to the fore here, and it works in parts, though it does feel slightly jarring in comparison to some of the other tracks on the album. What this song lacks is a good melody, which is odd coming from such a brilliant songsmith. It is his only weak contribution to any Queen album, up until this point. Well, this and Don't Try Suicide, from The Game.
Things get slightly rockier with Roger Taylor's Action This Day and Brian's anti-gun song, Put Out The Fire, which has one of the most cringeworthy lyrics in the entire Queen canon: 'Guns never killed nobody, You can ask anyone, People get shot by people. . . People with guns'. Okay, Brian, you don't have to spell it out for us. Could the man who penned the brilliantly inventive Brighton Rock and Prophet's Song really have come up with something so obvious and lame? Seemingly so.
Life Is Real (Song For Lennon) is a nice little tribute to the recently-deceased Beatle. Palabras de Amor is a lovely Brian May ballad, all 12-string guitar and keyboard strings. It is one of the highlights on this slightly spotty album. Cool Cat is probably the weakest track on the whole album, largely because Freddie decided to sing the whole song in a rather disconcerting falsetto. Freddie had such a wonderful tenor, and his voice was lovely when he sang in his higher register, but over the course of a whole song it can be a bit too much.
Overall, this is a brave attempt by Queen to do something a little different. It is not completely successful, and has not dated well, but it is a curious and worthy addition to any Queen collection. Freddie would go on to make a similar album with his heavily disco influenced Mr. Bad Guy. That album is better than this in truth, but this is certainly not the dog's dinner that some people would have you believe.

Criticizing all you see...
The album is a dud, easily my least favorite of Queen's studio output. Calling `Hot Space' a misstep is like calling a fumble a mistake by the offense in football. That doesn't mean it has no worth, it is Queen for god sakes, one of the greatest bands to walk the planet. Disco new wave is just not my cup of tea and judging by the way American audiences stayed away in droves, I'm probably in the majority. `Hot Space' does contain "Under Pressure" which is undeniably a great song but that had appeared on the American version of `Greatest Hits' the previous year. The amazing success of `The Game' was the obvious inspiration to create a dance album with heavy new wave influence. Freddie and John brought the funk and disco while Roger supplied much of the new wave. Brian contributed the only traditional Queen rocker in "Put out the Fire" but this is nothing special, it sticks out for the fact that by song six, fans are starving for a rocker! "Las Palabras" is a very good ballad in the Queen tradition but I mean that's about it. Roger Taylor's compositions were never to my tastes and he does nothing on `Hot Space' to change this - hate his new wave songs! "Body Language" was the other hit where Freddie seems to indulge in his personal preferences. Anyone attacking Queen as a `gay' band would have plenty of ammo here. Homophobic, conservative America wasn't the best market for Queen in the early `80's and Queen stopped touring the US by the middle of the decade. `Hot Space' is for Queen fans only, and only for people who need every studio album. . . . otherwise rockers who love Queen, you may want to pass.

underrated

Actually this album is a fascinating documentary to what happened to
highly talented music writing in 80's. Controversial but seriously underrated. For me it's the last great Queen album.

As most of you know the sound of the album seemed offensive at the time and
trying to be competition to Prince was not successful . . . Which is a shame ;-)

For today's listener sheer energy and fascination heard on this album speaks for itself. All later work, perhaps except "Innuendo" is like a parody. On albums like "Works" and "Kind of magic" May's and Mercury's work is much weaker and those are really Queen "pop" albums.

"Hot space" is truly a breaking point for the band.
.

In Space, No One Can Hear You Choke
When that album launched two of their biggest hits, it seemed like the band would become unstoppable. After being adamant about being a rock band with "No Synthesizers," Queen picked up the Prophet on The Game. "No Synthesizers" was once a point of pride for Queen. But you know what they say goeth before the fall?

The result of that fall is "Hot Space. " While it most certainly can't be considered a Hot Mess for trying to be a clone of any prior Queen album, the songs are so off expectation that I remember wondering at the time of its release if it was meant to be a Freddie Mercury solo album. The hallmarks of Queen (and the other band members) are notably absent from "Hot Space," including the fact that rock steady drummer Roger Taylor is barely on the album at all, replaced by machines.

"Hot Space" took Queen's glorious arena rock and ditched for a predominance of blue-eyed soul. Mercury, as usual, shines, and that is especially true on "Cool Cat," easily the most soulful falsetto he ever put to record. This is also the album with one of Queen's classic singles, the David Bowie duet "Under Pressure. " In fact, it is such a perfect song that it underscores how mediocre the bulk of the material on "Hot Space" is.

The best of the rest after "Under Pressure" includes Taylor's "Calling All Girls" and the deep funk of "Body Language. " While "Body Language" was an obvious attempt to capitalize on the mammoth success of "Another One Bites The Dust," the slippery synthed-out bassline was - like the best of Queen's experiments - completely unlike anything the band had tried before. It's one of my favorite Queen moments, even if many fans deride it.

The final highlight is "Life Is Real. " Written in the aftermath of John Lennon's assassination, it is an affecting ballad that sound natural (something the keyboard driven first half of the album doesn't). Had this been the first single instead of "Pressure," "Hot Space" might have been remembered a bit more fondly than as just the Queen album that derailed the band. The band atoned for this nicely with The Works, but they never really regained their US audience afterwards.

Not as bad as many seem to think
After listening to 1980's "The Game," it hardly seems surprising that the band was moving into a more dance-oriented kind of music. Overall, this seems to be the most hated album by any major rock band I can think of. This album also uses a lot more synthesizer, but Queen was certainly not alone in this in the '80s. "Staying Power," the album's opening track, immediately lets you know this is not the same Queen you were listening to in, say, 1974. The album is not without good old-fashioned rockers however, including Brian May's "Put Out the Fire. " I also happen to like the simple message of love and acoustic guitar in "Calling All Girls," as well as the slinky "Cool Cat," which features Freddie singing falsetto throughout. And it does include at least one bona fide Queen classic, "Under Pressure. " I'd say give it a chance, and judge it on its own merits.

You can see a complete list of all Queen discography, or go back to the Queen tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.